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Mud has defeated many a conquering army. In the days of horse-drawn transport
or ponderous and hugely heavy steam powered engines, R. Hornsby and Sons nippy
little petrol-driven caterpillar track must have seemed like the technological
development of the century. In this promotional film, delivered by the company
to a commercial and military audience in a spirit of optimism reminiscent of an
edition of Tomorrow's World (BBC, 1965-2006), the little vehicle is put through
its paces, making light of its load over clay, mud, soft sand, marshy land and
streams. It leaves its rival, a horse-drawn load, stuck in a bog and ends the
display turning gleefully on the spot in a celebration of manoeuvrability.
Now cast your mind into the future (theirs not yours) 7 or 8 years hence,
when vast armies were once again bogged down in mud, and largely reliant on
horse and man power. Could years of trench warfare have been shortened if the
engineers (the brilliant David Roberts at Hornsby's and Cole in Australia) had
been encouraged by the British military? It is interesting to note that back on
that happy day in 1908 one of the military observers' comments on the
performance of the vehicle was that it would scare the horses.
Bryony Dixon
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Complete film (6:07)
